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Strait of Hormuz Traffic Falls to Five-Week Low After US and Iran Exchange Strikes
Six ships crossed the strait on Sunday carrying Iranian and Kuwaiti oil. President Trump said the waterway remained open to commercial vessels while Iran's Revolutionary Guards reported stopping two ships.
Jul 13, 2:53 AM·1m read3 sources
AJ
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Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz fell to its lowest level in five weeks on Sunday, according to Kpler data reported by @AJEnglish. Six vessels crossed that day, including the Very Large Crude Carrier Humanity carrying two million barrels of Iranian oil and the Capetan Andreas transporting 500,000 barrels of Kuwaiti petroleum products.
Three empty tankers also entered the Gulf to load oil.
President Trump stated on Sunday that the strait was open to commercial vessels. Iran had earlier declared the waterway closed after a ship attempted passage on an unapproved route. On Monday the IRGC said it had stopped two vessels in the strait.
The drop in traffic followed a week of renewed exchanges. On July 6 the IRGC struck three commercial vessels off Oman, including a Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker. The United States responded the next day with strikes on Iranian military targets.
Iran then attacked military bases across the Gulf. On Wednesday President Trump told reporters the ceasefire was over. On Saturday the IRGC announced the strait would remain closed until further notice after attacking another container ship.
US forces subsequently struck multiple Iranian cities, most along the strait, and Iran retaliated with attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan and Qatar. Oil prices rose more than 4 percent on Monday after the latest round of strikes, @AJEnglish reported.
